Best Practices in RFID

Rigorous testing and a willingness to adapt. Achieving a high level of read accuracy was critical in all three winning deployments. Each company worked with its partners to conduct rigorous testing, and each encountered problems. Vail had to deal with multiple tag reads from handhelds, as well as missed reads from fixed interrogators. Focus struggled with the close proximity of tags on magazine pages. And Vögele had issues with reading tags on large numbers of clothing items in boxes. In each case, the company and its partners adapted and found ways to achieve the desired read rates.

A focus on a system that could be replicated. RFID systems are improving year after year, but the technology is not yet plug-and-play. Still, our award winners did not want to create a system that was so highly customized that it would work only for the current project. Vail Resorts sought a solution that would work on all of its mountains at all five of its resorts. Focus wanted a solution that could be used by other publications. And Vögele was looking for a system that would work with any of its suppliers, and in all of its stores. Each succeeded in this regard, by rejecting one-off solutions and focusing on a system that could be replicated.

All of our winners achieved their initial objectives. Charles Vögele succeeded in reducing its supply chain costs. Focus was able to gather accurate data regarding how often—and how long—its subscribers spent reading the magazine and looking at ads. And Vail improved the customer experience by eliminating the need to fumble for lift tickets; what's more, it also captured valuable information that will enable the resort to improve its marketing efforts.

If you plan to start an RFID rollout, these are all good practices to follow. For more information about how to make sure your RFID project succeeds, visit the Best Practices section of our Web site.

Mark Roberti is the founder and editor of RFID Journal. If you would like to comment on this article, click on the link below. To read more of Mark's opinions, visit the RFID Journal Blog or click here.